DOGE. Department of Government Efficiency. What started out as a noncommittal remark by President Trump and a half-serious tweet from billionaire Elon Musk has made multiple rounds of the news cycle since Trump's initial executive order brought it to life one month ago from today. Initially, DOGE was created to modernize government-wide software and infrastructure. An executive order issued on February 11 extended that power to workforce optimization, including letting go of hundreds of federal workers. Critics believe that DOGE is an unconstitutional power grab that is going to dismantle the United States government. Proponents believe that DOGE will overhaul federal bureaucracy and bring sanity to profligate government spending and largesse. Which depiction is closer to the truth?
Since Trump won the 2024 election, I called for the abolishment of the Department of Education, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). Furthermore, condensing ministries was part of Argentinean President Javier Milei's plan to reduce government spending. As a result of his plan, he was able to generate a surplus for the first time in over a decade. It is likely that Milei's chainsaw approach to government inspired Elon Musk. In concept, I agree with having a bureaucratic agency focused on making government more efficient. The question is whether DOGE has been successful or will succeed, legal and constitutional challenges notwithstanding.
DOGE claims that it has already saved the taxpayers $55 billion so far. When accounting for some preexisting improper entries, duplicate entries, and other federal accounting nuances, the figure is closer to $8 billion. DOGE has mainly targeted low-hanging fruit, particularly with waste and fraud. DOGE's workforce optimization is not much better.
The rule of "one in, four out" for the federal workforce sounds drastic, but it does not do as much as one would think. The military as well as those in law enforcement, public safety, or immigration enforcement are exempt. That exempts 60 percent of the federal workforce. Plus, even if you cut half the federal workforce, the $150-175 billion in savings would not make a sufficient dent to tackle the $2 trillion deficit.
And that is part of the point. The national deficit for year-to-date is $700 billion. To avoid that deficit spending, we would need to eliminate the Department of Education and USAID five times over. To avoid adding debt and bring a balanced budget, we would need to eliminate the equivalent of ED and USAID thirteen times over. That is how staggering U.S. government spending is! While one could argue that DOGE's spending cuts are worthwhile, they are modest in comparison to the large scale of government spending.
As the Cato Institute brings up, trying to make government more efficient misses the mark. Why? There are aspects of government that cannot intrinsically be run efficiently, which is why there are multiple parts of federal government that should not exist at all. If you cannot scrap or at least greatly reduce the size of given government agencies, waste and inefficiency will ensue.
This Cato Institute report to DOGE gets at how to address major cuts to the federal budget. If DOGE does not tackle the major three drivers of the federal budget, which are Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid, what DOGE can do to make the federal budget great again is minimal.
This brings up a final point from Reason Magazine, which is that DOGE cannot go in and do it alone. Short of abolishing the Constitution, DOGE will need Congress' help to get the job done because Congress pulls the purse strings and Congress is responsible for determining the scope of the executive branch's activities. Given that Congress can barely pass stop-gap temporary funding, never mind pass all its required bills (last time it did that was 1996), I will not hold my breath in Congress getting its act together to help DOGE with its mission. Without lasting structural reform, DOGE is at best a distraction from the real issues facing the federal budget.
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